- The DMK has offered Congress 25 seats that it offered the national party in 2021
- Congress has historically contested no fewer than 40 seats in Tamil Nadu when allied with the DMK
- Party leaders now say that agreeing to 25 seats was a mistake in 2021
As seat-sharing negotiations intensify between the Congress and DMK, the Dravidian party is refusing to back down and has offered the Congress 25 seats that it offered the national party in 2021.
The Congress, too, is insistent and is pushing for 40 seats.
The demand figured prominently during a recent meeting between senior Congress leader KC Venugopal and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, DMK Parliamentary Party Chief Kanimozhi Karunanidhi in Chennai, where alliance arithmetic and long-term political considerations were discussed.
Congress sources argue that the party has historically contested no fewer than 40 seats in Tamil Nadu when allied with the DMK - except in the 2021 Assembly polls, when it settled for 25 seats.
Party leaders now say that agreeing to 25 seats was a mistake in 2021 and attribute that compromise to the influence of then-DMK strategist Prashant Kishor on the Congress high command.
In 2006, the Congress contested 48 seats alongside the DMK. In 2011, the party contested 63 seats and in 2016, it fought on 41 seats. It was only in 2021 that it contested 25 seats - a figure leaders now describe as a strategic mistake.
The Congress leadership believes that accepting just 25 seats in 2021 limited its legislative strength and long-term leverage within the alliance. The party was misled, according to them, by Prashant Kishor that the DMK would help it get two Rajya Sabha seats from the state, which never happened.
In Tamil Nadu, a party typically needs approximately 34 MLAs to secure a Rajya Sabha berth independently. Congress leaders contend that without contesting at least 40-41 seats, they cannot realistically win enough members to send a representative to the Upper House on their own strength. Consequently, the Congress is demanding at least one guaranteed Rajya Sabha seat as part of the current negotiations to offset any shortfall in Assembly numbers.
The party is keen to move to a position where it has the numbers on its own in the assembly to get a Rajya Sabha seat or at least come close to it. Hence, the demand for 41 seats.
Congress leaders dismissed the DMK's claims of weak candidates, citing their 2021 strike rate of winning 18 out of 25 contested seats.
The evolving political landscape has also added a new dimension to the negotiations. The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), floated by actor-turned-politician Vijay, has, according to sources, indicated a willingness to offer the Congress as many as 70 Assembly seats in a potential alliance.
While the Congress has not publicly responded to the speculation, sources suggest the party sees this as strategic leverage in its talks with the DMK and is keen to bargain from a position of strength.
Despite the tough posturing, both the DMK and Congress are seen as committed to maintaining their alliance, which forms a key pillar of the ruling coalition in Tamil Nadu and aligns with the broader national opposition framework.
However, with Rajya Sabha representation, long-term political growth, and internal party morale at stake, the Congress appears determined not to repeat what it views as the compromises of 2021.
As negotiations continue, the final seat-sharing formula will not only shape the electoral battlefield in Tamil Nadu but also signal the balance of power within one of India's most significant regional alliances.
